Maui confidential: The overrated, underrated and unknown

Fall can be the best time to visit Maui since there are less visitors at that time. Above, a couple enjoys a sunset on Kaanapali Beach on Maui MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Thirty years ago, I had just been fired from my first job, as a Sacramento politician's press secretary. I unexpectedly had time and money to take my first solo vacation. I called up Western Airlines (yes, it was that long ago) and booked a flight to Maui.

It was beautiful, exotic and – best of all – the new home of J.D., a high school buddy from Long Beach who would let me crash on his couch in Makawao, upcountry on the slopes of Haleakala. J.D. worked as a beachboy at the old Intercontinental hotel in south Maui. He snuck me hotel snorkels, fins, lounge chairs and towels.

When not sunning and swimming, I would drive J.D.'s ancient, rusting Volkswagen van, nicknamed “bummer bus” for it's proclivity to break down. I'd go from Kihei to Kula, Wailuku to Wailea and everywhere in between. We'd party at night. On Saturday, J.D. and I drove up to Haleakala to see the sunset. Yes, sunset – I'm not getting up at 5 a.m. on my vacation to freeze my behind off. On Sunday, we made the drive out to Hana to go skinny-dipping with locals at Red Sand Beach.

When I left after a week, I was in love with Maui. Though my allegiance has shifted to Kauai over the years, Maui was my first love – and you never forget your first love. I've been back two dozen times since.

I was hardly alone in my admiration for Maui. Tourism has boomed over the past three decades. There are fewer than 150,000 residents on Maui, but more than 2.2 million visitors wing in each year. The island's landscape has been warped by mainlanders' needs, from the manicured swaths of golf courses to the Krispy Kreme and Walmart next to the airport entrance.

But the Maui I fell in love with still exists. Drive less than a half-hour out of the airport and you can be high up on the green flank of Haleakala, or strolling a deserted North Coast beach, or hiking around the wind-carved volcanic peaks of Iao Valley.

To mark 30 years, I'm rolling out my list of the over- and underrated on the island. For the hard-core Costco-to-condo crowd, this list won't matter much. For others, my underrated might be your overrated. We can agree to disagree – but I'm right.

Town

Overrated: Lahaina. The former royal retreat, missionary center, whaling harbor and early Hawaiian capital seems to have turned into one big T-shirt-selling, timeshare-hawking, whale-watching, video-playing, luau-touting tourist trap. The banyan trees are amazing, the museums are interesting and the Pioneer Inn is tied for the oldest hotel in Hawaii, built in 1901, the same year as the Moana-Surfrider in Waikiki. But every time I drop into Lahaina, my mental meter is running the numbers on how many minutes until I can get out of town.

Underrated: Wailuku. In the past, I would have said Paia. But that once-scruffy North Coast counterculture outpost has become a trendy address in recent years. So I will double down on the ramshackle funkiness and go with Wailuku. A dud at first impressions, the county seat is dotted with ugly government office buildings and is far from the nearest beach. But the back streets are full of plantation-era shops and tiny Japanese stores and clubs. The Bailey House museum, dedicated to the early missionaries, leaves me shaking my head at how sour and dour these men of God could be – even before their sons began gobbling up land and importing Asian laborers at serf-like wages. Janice Fairbanks runs the lovely Old Wailuku Inn at Ulupono, a B&B where guests on my most recent visit included Dutch tourists and a Honolulu businessman. The Wailuku Coffee Co. serves the best caffeinated brew on Maui. Best of all: only a trickle of tourists. On Hawaii's slickest tourist island, you can find a town the tour buses have passed by.

Beach

Overrated: Kapalua. This is no skanky Baldwin Beach. It's still a Maui beauty, the No. 1 choice in the first-ever “Best Beach” in the U.S. rankings. But its popularity has brought in ever bigger crowds. The once-open space behind the ring of palm trees has been developed into a resort area, giving it a less natural feeling than when I first visited three decades ago. It's no longer the best beach in the U.S. – or even on Maui.

Underrated: Hamoa. The best beach on Maui that you've probably never heard of (unless you listen to the English indie rock band Gomez). It is past Hasegawa's General Store on the Hana Highway, a long way from the sunscreen-slathered hordes on the resort-area beaches. Twice when I've visited, I've had the whole beach to myself. The crescent-shaped shoreline was once the lip of a small volcano.

Activity

Overrated: Zip-lining. Like an invasive plant that can't be rooted out, wires strung around natural places for people to hurtle down while bellowing at the top of their lungs has become one of the mainstays of overdeveloped resort areas around the world. Maui is no different. Adrenaline junkies love it. You, or your kids, might love it. But for me, it's the kind of hyperactivity I come to Hawaii to escape.

Underrated: Bodysurfing. With some of the best beaches in the world and well-shaped waves much of the year, learning how to get into the hollow of a wave and use your lead hand to scoot along the face of the short wall of water is a simple pleasure I can indulge all day. My favorite beach is D.T. Fleming State Beach, though in churning winter water you can end up with a face plant and a swimsuit full of sand if you pick the wrong wave.

Celebrity resident

Overrated: Oprah Winfrey. The great land baroness of Maui, she has 63 acres outside of Hana and a big, white, two-story, Hawaii plantation-style mansion on the old Thompson Ranch, upcountry near the flank of Haleakala. Every “property for sale” sign sets off speculation that Oprah might add to her holdings. Whether she is visiting Maui or doing something on the mainland or elsewhere in the world, you will hear about it in the local newspapers and on TV.

Underrated: Charles Lindbergh. Yes, I know he has been dead since 1974. At least you can see his grave. Everyone else is hard to pin down. Clint Eastwood has a home in South Maui, while the counterculture lifestyle around Paia has attracted actor Owen Wilson, singer Willie Nelson, actor Woody Harrelson and Aerosmith frontman and “American Idol” judge Steven Tyler. The late George Harrison, “the quiet Beatle,” owned more than 150 acres around Nihiku, near Hana. Most of the celebrities fiercely protect their privacy. Harrison sued his neighbors for using a pathway to the beach. Lindbergh, the great aviator, is buried in Kipahulu, just beyond Hana. You have to go behind the old Palapala Hoomau Church to find his pretty, lava rock-rimmed grave. Lindbergh was a pioneer in coming to Maui for celebrity privacy, and even in death he attempts to hide.

Fall can be the best time to visit Maui since there are less visitors at that time. Above, a couple enjoys a sunset on Kaanapali Beach on Maui MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Brave tourists hold their ground against strong winter waves at D.T. Fleming Beach near The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua. Bodysurfing can be an underated activity on Maui. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
"J.D." and future Register Travel Editor Gary Warner in Maui 30 years ago. It was Warner's first solo vacation anywhere. COURTESY OF GARY A. WARNER
Hamoa. The best beach on Maui that you've probably never heard of (unless you listen to the English indie rock band Gomez). It is past Hasegawa's General Store on the Hana Road, a long way from the sunscreen-slathered hordes on the resort area beaches. Twice when I've visited, I've had the whole beach to myself. The crescent shaped shoreline was once the lip of a small volcano. RON DAHLQUIST, MAUI VISITORS BUREAU
Visitors enjoy Lahaina in the evening to watch the sunset and also to visit art galleries and restaurants. But Register Travel Editor Gary Warner says the town has become overrun with tacky shops and noisy bars. BARRY FITZSIMMONS, SEATTLE TIMES
A juice truck on the highway south of Lahaina is a throwback to Maui's funkier days. GARY A. WARNER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Mangos for sell at a roadside stand in West Maui. Though the island has become over-developed in many areas, there are still pockets of old Hawaii to be found. GARY A. WARNER., ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Mama's Fish House serves fresh seafood daily and even credits the fishermen in their ever-changing menu. The seaside restaurant has been a destination for visitors since 1973. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A map showing the main towns of Maui Orange County Register

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